.The Ceremony for the Recruits.
This specific day, according to Yoruba culture, was called "Ọjọ-ọdun" or simply "Ọdun", meaning a festive day or a day set aside for celebration. To some in the shelter, it was a day of celebration, a day to sing, dance and be merry, and for others, it was a day of sadness. The Alaramide family are one of such people who were unfortunate to be grief-stricken on that day because the night before they had received a letter from the Mayor of the shelter.
The letter contained sad tidings about the death of their son Adewale, it tells of how his evo-cap was 1 and how he was killed by a slime Ẹbọra. His mother cried in pain for the death of her son; another family that was thrown into mourning was the Omiri family, the father of Attah. He might have been hard on his son, but he always wanted what was best for both of his sons; the moment Mayor Abacha made the rule for each family to give one person for the benefit of the shelter, it broke his heart. The news of his son's death was another blow that he had not expected, and for the first time in many years, he felt tears roll down his cheeks; Attah, the son he had with a gentle soul, was dead. Attah's mother was beside herself with grief and his older brother had no words to speak.
The sad news was also given to the families of the other E-ranks, the uncle of Ọsẹ and Ọrẹoluwa received the news with a grin on his face as he squandered his dead brother's fortune. The Olori-ebi of the Akinbode family was silent, he showed no emotional reaction to the letter and did not indicate that he was concerned. The Ọlaitan family was silent. The only person who mourned was her mother, who screamed; Tunde Teniola was an orphan, so the letter was delivered to the elderly woman who had raised him along with other orphans that she had coincidentally stumbled into. She fell into a deep depression and was silent for more than three hours with tears in her eyes, it took the rest of the children a lot of effort to calm down the old lady. Tunde had promised her that he would return a professional Ẹṣọ and assist her in raising the children; now, all his dreams had died and were buried with him.
On the other hand, the families of the candidates who had returned and the ones who were recruited by the Ẹṣọ strike teams were sent congratulatory letters stamped by the Mayor, and they were invited to the celebration ceremony. The ceremony was scheduled for the fifth day of the hands-on training; it was the day when they were sure all the trainees would have returned and gained both the experience and Evo-level to challenge the wild on their own.
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The ceremony was held on the fifth day at the entrance of the Lagos shelter close to the gates; there were several Ẹṣọs present, including the most powerful S-rank warrior in the Lagos shelter. Abacha and several other VIPs were given a place on the high table befitting their status. The new commander was also present but he was not given the respect that he was due considering how much work he had on his plate, he was doing a lot of running around to ensure that the programme was a success while gazing longingly at the entrance of the Lagos shelter hoping that Adewale and the others had found the safe-house. There was also a place for the parents of the surviving trainees and, of course, a place set aside for the grieving families. They each displayed the projected images of all those who died during the hands-on experience training.
The ceremony began with a speech from the Mayor of the shelter, he expressed his joy at the candidates who had survived and grieved with those unlucky to die during the training. He pointed out that those who had died during the exercise were weak because the slime crystal beasts were the weakest monsters in history; he also commented on the low Evo-cap level of each of the E-rankers, stating that they died because of their weakness.
"And I promise, we will stop at nothing to make the Lagos shelter a beacon of hope for the future of humanity" There was a round of applause as Abacha waved his hands in appreciation, 'the fools' he taught, 'Once I'm done killing the next batch of cockroaches, I will come up with another plan to depopulate the Suru-lere region even more.' then he continued, "The Lagos shelter is one of great glory and great challenges as well, I promise to compensate the families of those who died during the training exercise (This was a lie, he only said this to look good in front of the people.) and new facilities will be provided to the training institute to ensure none will loose their lives during the next training. As a token of…" it was apparent that he would have gone on forever had he been given the time, but at that moment, there was a commotion.
The bells placed at the gate of the shelter to alert the people if there are any visitors resounded, this stopped Abacha's grand speech and also caught the attention of all those present. As the protocol demanded, if the visitors were citizens of the shelter or a returning strike team, then the gates would be opened immediately. This was Abacha's assumption, but to his shock, the gates were opened to the expedition van, and the cart behind it was loaded with several corpses of Ẹbọra from the dark forest, including one Great Arachnoid, several lesser Arachnoids, about ten Galagos and one Saber-tooth panther. Abacha's shock grew even more the moment he saw the E-ranks, his emotions went into a state of turmoil the moment he saw Adewale and even more so the moment he saw the smug expression on Kehinde's face as he sat atop the large Arachnoid feeling proud of himself.
"I thought I ordered you to kill them all!" He shouted at the one seated not too far from him who happened to be Cecilia'n Ibru, "I should …"
"Shhhhhh," Cecilia'n replied with a grin on his face, that action was able to bring Abacha back from his temper tantrum. Luckily for him, those in attendance were captivated by the appearance of the missing trainees to pay attention to what he had just said. To make things worse, he would have accused them of being spies from an invading shelter, but the parents of the assumed dead trainees started running towards their loved ones.
Adewale was hugged by his weeping mother while his father came up behind carrying his sister, her tears of joy brought gladness to his heart. The others were also reunited with their loved ones except for Ọsẹ and his sister; their uncle was nowhere to be found.
"How did they survive the forest?" Abacha wondered, but then he contemplated again. How were they able to survive the men he had posted at the entrance of the shelter?
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To answer the questions that confused Abacha there is the need to go back in time to the mansion of the Olori-ẹbi (Family head) of the Akinbode family. He had just received the letter from the Mayor of the Lagos shelter and suspected that something was amiss, so he summoned his informant within the guards and gathered as much information as he could. The most infuriating bit of information he was able to gather was how his son's stupidity would result in the loss of the family's heir.
"He hired two thugs to escort him to the dark cave located within the dark forest," the informant told him.
"Fool," the Olori-ẹbi pronounced.
"So what should we do agba(elder)?" the servant asked.
He slowly exhaled and then looked at the second spy, who had also brought in some information, and gestured for him to give him his piece of info.
"As usual, the E-ranks have been sent to the dark forest. The probability of them surviving is ten per cent" Then he moved in closer and whispered, "There is the probability that he might survive"
Now that caught the Olori-ẹbi's attention, "Please explain!" he pressed.
"Do you remember the reptile-king invasion?" the spy continued, then he explained how the E-ranks were able to organise and survive and how Abacha had secretly assigned inferior weapons to the E-ranks, ensuring that their death in the dark forest was a certainty.
The leader of the Akinbode tribe sat in silence for a while thinking of his next action, then he raised his head and gave his orders, "Infiltrate the guards at the gate and wait for the E-ranks to arrive, if they survived the ordeal before, then, I am sure they can survive it now."
"What should we do if they survive?" Another inquired.
"If Kehinde is not with them, then he is dead. Do whatever must be done," He commanded, "And if he is alive, kill anyone who tries to harm him. Those are my orders."
"It shall be done!" the men replied and marched off.
That was how every member of the E-ranks was saved; the moment the supervising officer gave the order to kill the survivors of the dark forest, that was the exact moment the Akinbode assassins hidden amongst the soldiers took action. They killed all those faithful to the Mayor without leaving a single one alive. The E-rankers simply stood there awestruck that they had just narrowly evaded death; Ọrẹoluwa practically exhaled in relief at the turn of events.
"Young Master Akinbode, the Olori-ẹbi has been expecting your triumphant return" the leader of the assassins announced, as all the assassins fell to one knee in respect.
"Good," Kehinde Akinbode replied feeling proud of himself. "Then shall we head towards the shelter."
"As you wish," The leader replied, "We will escort you and ensure your safety"
Thus, they were accompanied to the shelter, crashed the party in honour of their A, B, C and D rank peers, and ruined a perfect funeral in their honour.
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The resulting commotion from the arrival of the missing trainees sparked a lot of confusion especially when the people saw the spoils that they had brought back as tribute to the shelter.
"These are Ẹbọras from the dark forest" One of the people shouted.
"But they were sent to the plains," Another said,
"If they were sent to the plains how did they kill these beasts?" Another shouted.
"Didn't the Mayor declare them dead?" another shouted,
In an instant, the people rushed towards the dumbfounded Abacha, demanding an explanation; the only thing Abacha could do at that moment was look at the intimidating smirk on Adewale's face.
"Why did you send them to the evil forest," One of the aggrieved parents demanded,
"Are you trying to kill our children?" Another demanded,
"Don't believe anything he says, he is a lier!" another shouted,
The situation would have resulted in a riot had Adewale allowed it to continue, but knowledge from the previous world had taught him that the process of toppling a government has to be done subtly and in style. He nodded to Ọsẹ, who in turn walked over to Kehinde and whispered something in his ear; Kehinde, as though prompted, charged towards the podium where Abacha stood and raised his hand to gain their attention.
"People of the Lagos shelter, please listen to me."
"But Abacha tried to kill all of you" An angry voice resounded,
"That is not true," Kehinde shouted, "The fault is mine," that got the attention of the people and temporarily calmed their building rage. "My name is Kehinde Akinbode, and I am an S-rank; all my friends, the ones that ventured into the dark forest with me, are all E-ranks. That is correct. They all have Evo-caps less than ten; it was obvious that they were going to die during the expedition, so I offered to go with them as a defender."
"It is true that we were on our way towards the Plains of Ọkara, but then our transport was attacked by a charging Ẹbọra; that's was how we found ourselves in the dark forest. The only reason why we survived was due to my leadership, my power as an S-rank and the cooperation of the E-ranks. Not to mention the fact that Abacha provided us with the latest weapons, which were easy to use and killed the Ẹbọra easily. So please help me thank the Mayor for providing us with the equipment that saved our lives." then Kehinde vowed to the flabbergasted Mayor of the Lagos shelter, "Thank you, sir, for saving our lives."
"Three gbosa fun Abacha jare (three cheers for Abacha.)" Somebody shouted,
"Gbosa! Gbosa! Gbosa!!" Everyone replied; there was a loud round of applause, and the members of the Akinbode family paraded the place carrying Kehinde shoulder high while chanting his name. The celebration began, and everyone was happy, there was a lot of food and drinks, and the music lasted till the late hours of the day.
"You were right to keep that idiot alive," Lakan said as he moved towards Adewale during the later hours of the party, "I'm still angry about the goods given to him should he take everything?"
"That is the cost of saving our lives" Adewale replied as he helped himself to some food, "Besides, his father is going to throw a tantrum when he finds out that his son is still at Evo-level 1," they both sniggered at the thought.
"So what are we going to do now?" Ọrẹoluwa asked in a worried tone.
The moment she said this, it changed the mood of the atmosphere. They would have been in a bad mood for much longer, but Adewale dispelled the situation by scolding Ọrẹoluwa.
"You and that talent of yours," He mocked, "That is tomorrow's problem; enjoy the win of today and let tomorrow take care of itself." with that said, they all sat down to enjoy the party.